By Jonny Bakes
Every so often, an album will surface at ÜRHQ that promises to combine two of my favourite things in a tantalising mix. And on occasions like this I simply have to pick it up and give it a spin because the opportunity is too good to miss! This is how I felt when I stumbled across ‘Tales of Knights and Distant Worlds’ where Dreamslain have promised that “epic metal meets prog rock” which is definitely enough to grab my attention!
Hailing from Tromsø, which is about as far north as you can get in Norway, this trio of multinational musicians have taken a very unique approach to music writing. I’ll admit that when I first listened through this album that I didn’t really “get it”, it felt completely chaotic and almost jarring in places which is not what I had expected. But after doing a little more digging and having another go, I’m starting to understand that it’s entirely the point. Dreamslain seem to treat their writing/recording as an improvised jam session that relies on the guys bouncing off each other which is why the music completely changes pace and direction on a regular basis. Now this is something I would generally expect from the more progressive flavours of music but generally the transitions are quite smooth in other bands’ work, not completely abrupt like they can be as you weave through the ‘Tales of Knights and Distant Worlds’.
One of the things that stands out is the heavy use of the organ (well, the keys in general, but particularly the organ voice) which comes into play from the very outset of the album on ‘He Who Rises in Force’. Here the organ of Anna Loppacher bounces its way around the scale matching each note change in the eclectic vocals of Igor Jakobsen. It gets a bit difficult to keep up with his frequent change of style which ranges from DSBM-style screeches to deep aggressive shouts, it’s almost like the vocal equivalent of the film ‘Split’. But then, why would you need multiple vocalists when you’ve got a guy who can cover the whole range?
Things take a particularly other-worldly turn later in the album as we move away from the fantastical theme and into the realm of space travel with ‘Cosmonautics’. There’s moments in this track where the music has a bit of a Deep Purple ring to it, but like most of the other tracks and likenesses are generally very fleeting and are quickly replaced with something else! But perhaps the most memorable part of this 8 minute epic is the futuristic sounding keyboard solo that sees out the end of the song. But things get incredibly strange when you get to ‘Shadow Warriors’ where I can’t help but be reminded of Christopher Bowes’ solo album ‘At the Organ’ but I shan’t dwell on that too much.
‘Tales of Knights and Distant Worlds’ is definitely an album for those with an open mind who really desire to push the boundaries of music because that’s what Dreamslain have achieved here. The chaotic nature of these songs, which are neither bound by time nor structure, can be an uncomfortable experience to start with, but if you give it time they can certainly grow on you as you relax your expectations. For me, it took me a long time to really get what I was listening to but once I was there I was able to appreciate the uniqueness of it all. You can probably draw likenesses to just about anything if you go looking for them, but I’d say the recurring similarities would be Deep Purple (certainly in the keys work), Lamb of God (with the Randy Blythe-esque vocal delivery at times) and possibly even a bit of Arthur Brown. This won’t be an album that’ll please everyone, but then nothing ever does, but at the very least it should trigger some intrigue anyway!
- ‘Tales of Knights and Distant Worlds’ is out now. You can get your copy HERE.
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